Albert Van Dam (2)

J. Van’t Hul, translated from Oude Paden

In February 1994, the administration of the Lord’s Supper again took place. When the invitation was made, Albert stood up, and dressed in his black suit he walked very respectfully to the front and sat down next to Rev. Karens and was able to partake of Holy Supper. To the elder who sat on the other side of him he said, “And that for such a one.” With the closing of the table, Rev. Karens requested to sing from “The Song of Mary.”

To those that fear and trust the Lord,
His mercy stands forever sure;
From age to age His promise lives,
And the performance is secure,
And the performance is secure.

His brother Marien said, “The whole congregation was visibly moved. It made a deep impression upon the entire congregation.”

In the days after this took place, Rev. P. De Vries who, at this time, was the pastor of the Reformed Church of Opheusden, came to pay a visit to the Van Dam family. He said to Albert, “Is it true that I have heard that you partook of the Lord’s Supper?” Albert nodded affirmatively. “And did you experience something while there?”

Albert said, “My heart doth overflow, a goodly theme is mine, Psalter 124:1.” From then on, Albert attended every time the Lord’s Supper was administered. He always looked forward to it and had memorized the date long before the time of the administration of the sacrament. For him they were appointed feast days.

In 2005, Albert became sick. He was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer. He was scheduled for surgery on the first day of June. On the morning before the operation, he asked his brother, “Marien, would you read Psalm 26 for me?”

After he read this psalm, his brother said, “Albert, perhaps this will be the time that you must die.”

“No,” Albert replied, “not yet. First I may celebrate my birthday, and then I may go to the Lord’s Table once more; that will be soon, on the fourth of July.”

After the operation someone called him and said, “Albert, this Sunday the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated. Will you be able to attend, or are you too weak to go to church?”

He replied, “In God I put my trust, 1 neither doubt nor fear.” His illness brought Albert back into the hospital. One of the nurses was Janneke De Boef, who was from the Reformed circles. Albert asked her, “Nurse, would you sing something for me?”

“Yes,” she said, she would do that. “And what would you like me to sing?” she asked.

Albert replied, “Psalter 228:3.”

A Sun and Shield forever
Is God, the Lord Most High;
To those who walk uprightly
No good will He deny;
His saints, His grace receiving
Shall soon His glory see;
O Lord of Hosts, most blessed
Are they that trust in Thee.

The other nurses said to Janneke, “You wouldn’t do that for a patient, would you?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, “for Albert I will do that.”

Albert asked every nurse, both male and female, if he or she already had a new heart. He would then add, “I will ask the Lord for you, and will you promise me that you yourself will also begin to ask for it?”

Shortly after Rev. J. Karens preached his farewell to the congregation, candidate G. Pater accepted the call to Opheusden. Close ties were also made between this minister and Albert. One evening, while lying in the hospital, Albert said to his sister Anneke, “Give me the phone because 1 have to call the minister.” During the phone conversation Albert told the minister that he had received the words from John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit....”

Early the next morning, Rev. Pater came to the hospital and asked Albert, “What makes you think that those words are for you?”

“The Lord told me that in my heart,” Albert replied.

“Do you know what those words mean for you?” asked Rev. Pater.

“Yes, Reverend, I know that. He has loved me with an everlasting love.”

The doctor thought that he should have some relaxation. “Tonight there is a soccer game on TV; you ought to watch that,” he advised him.

“No, doctor,” said Albert, “I will not look at that because that is all vanity.”

He did have a problem with the screen above his bed while he was in the hospital. If someone would point to it or comment about it, Albert shamefacedly would say, “That is not a TV; that is a monitor.”

In the hospital ward Albert saw that the other patients would just begin to eat. Then he would ask,“Aren’t we going to pray?” That had never been done, surely not for a few slices of bread, but from that moment on, Albert would open in prayer, aloud, and he would remember everyone in his prayer. No one dared to say anything about it because all the patients felt that what Albert said was genuine.

While he was in the hospital, Albert became seriously ill with pneumonia. When Rev. Pater visited him, he asked him how matters stood with him.

He said respectfully, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Rev. Karens, who now lived in Kruiningen, also visited him several times while he was in the hospital.

Albert spent the last weeks of his life at home. When Rev. C. Sonnevelt visited him, he said, “Albert, I am so jealous of you because you are so close to home.”

On the day that Albert died, Rev. Pater said to him, “Albert, will this be the day of your death?”

Albert replied, “No. ‘I shall not die, but live and tell the wonders of the Lord’” (Psalter 317:4c).

Albert Van Dam passed away peacefully on the nineteenth of September in 2005, at the age of fifty-six. The funeral was conducted by Rev. Pater. Six hundred people from all over the country came to pay their last respects to Albert. Rev. Pater used as his text for the funeral message 2 Timothy 4:7&8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love His appearing.” At the grave site both Rev. Pater and Rev. Karens spoke. At the close of the service, the people sang from Psalter 426, the verses 4 and 10:

The Lord preserves the meek most tenderly;
Brought nigh to death, in Him Ifound salvation.
Come, thou my soul, relieved from agitation,
Turn to thy rest; the Lord has favored thee.

Jerusalem! Within thy courts I’ll praise
Jehovah’s Name; and with a spirit lowly
Pay all my vows. O Zion, fair and holy,
Come join with me and bless Him all thy days!

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